Snake upstages Santa at outback Christmas party

An outback Christmas party turned to chaos when a teacher and her principal were bitten by a snake.

The Indian Pacific train visited the railway siding at Watson in outback South Australia to bring pre-Christmas entertainment to locals, including children from the Oak Valley School.

Its principal Bob Sim said a teacher was bitten by a mildly-poisonous yellow-faced whip snake which then slid under Santa's chair, a spot which presumably was well shaded from the outback heat.

Mr Sim says he was then bitten as he tried to remove the snake from under the chair.

"Father Christmas was still sitting in the chair and I said to everyone 'Where's the snake, where's the snake?' and they said 'It's under Father Christmas's chair'," he said.

"I was about to dispatch the snake to snake heaven but all the people around me were yelling 'Don't kill it, don't kill it'."

Mr Sim said he could not quite reach the snake.

"I was about an inch-and-a-half too short and it spun around and latched onto my finger," he said.

"I said to the kids ... it's a Christmas they'll remember, not just for the experience of getting a present from Father Christmas but they'll be able to remember that two of their teachers got bitten by the same snake," he said.